Christmas letter!

As I look back on the past year and it's many wonderful events, I cannot possibly avoid the emotions and feelings of thankfulness that inevitably follow. There is so much to be thankful for! Quick recap of 2016: Early in the year Aubyn and I took our first trip without kids, since Brielle was born over six years ago. We flew to Phoenix and spent Easter with many Hoegh family members at Paul & Carol's church and house. We stayed at Jane & Bob's and spent time helping to help prepare my sister Janna and Andrew's house to sell. Just a few weeks later Janna and Andrew made the decision to move to Sioux Center! It's so great to have my sister and family so close by! The summer was very busy with vacation bible school, sports central, swimming lessons, t-ball, and fun at the many parks of Orange City. In July we met up with the Elgersmas in Ames at Henry & Karissa's house for a few days which was a great time that included Adventureland. My brother Jacey and Whitney got married this summer! We're excited that Whitney is part of the family and can keep Jacey in line! :) This fall was absolutely beautiful so we spent most days outside and a few weekends at the Hoegh farm--which the whole family loves! We met up with the Elgersmas in Okoboji for a short weekend filled with many hours at the waterpark. Each kid is part fish. Brielle is in first grade and loves it. She's quiet, until she gets home and then she's happy to be another mother to the "littles". Judson is in Transitional Kindergarten. He's carefree and loving life. He recently was awake, dressed and ready to go on a run with dad at 6:15 am. Cooper on the other hand is all about being a “basketball guy”. Jaeya is one and a half and showing more personality all the time. These four keep us on our toes, busy, entertained and tired. Most of all we feel truly grateful for the surprises that God gives us with the kids and with life each day. Aubyn continues working in Sioux Center 1/2 day a week with a wonderful group of friends. Other days she manages the home which she does a great job of. She deserves a raise for all she does for the kids and I. We hope all of you had a wonderful 2016. We also hope and pray, as we do every year, that you feel the love of Jesus this Christmas season and show that love to others as well. Love - Jerod, Aubyn, Brielle(6), Judson(5), Cooper(3), Jaeya(20 months).

Christmas time again!

Christmas card time already?!!? Another year has gone by and we have barely documented any of it. It's like we blink and its gone! Life is good! We are thankful for so many things this year. Winter/Spring-Brielle turned 5, Cooper turned 2, Jaeya was born in March, Brielle finished pre-school. Summer was swim lessons for Bri and Juds, Elgersma family trip to Wisconsin, Judson broke his arm on the monkey bars:(. Hoegh family trip to the Black Hills. Brielle started Kindergarten, Judson started pre-school, then he got his cast off:)!!! Time flies when you're having fun. Other noteworthy things that have happened- Janna and Andrew along with kids Kavan and Riley welcomed baby Keelan into the family on November 20! Keelan is such a good lookin' boy and we anxiously await a time to meet him! Through different occasions with friends, this year we have been reminded of just how fragile and short life is. We think of and pray for these families regularly. We have held our little ones closer, cried a little more and we thank God for every moment we have on this earth with each other. We're grateful for our each of you and pray that each one of you knows the love of Christ this Christmas season.

Catching up

Trying to get caught up with posting some pics and documenting some memories. Here are some pics from this spring. What a spring it has been!! Tulip fest, Tivoli Fest, all sorts of random fun around the house and more. Bri is now biking. Jaeya has slept through the night a half dozen times so we're hoping she gets that down soon! Judson just turned four this weekend. Wow did we have fun! And wow we can't believe he's 4 already! Life is good and we still find ourselves and the kids saying "this is the life". It's a crazy life but it's fun. We certainly enjoy the process we're in and count our blessings. Cooper is talking more and more and more clearly too!

2014...in 30 seconds

Yep! I did it again. I went a year without posting anything. Wow how times have changed from when we started this blog. I would post a couple times a week! Now the busyness of life with 3 kids gets the best of me. We are enjoying life as much or more now...just not documenting it nearly as often obviously. Life is awesome! God has been VERY good to us! We have loved nearly every minute of it. I say nearly every minute because at times the frustration of 3 little ones not exactly listening can make one cranky! And that one is obviously Aubyn! Ha! Our theme prayer should be "Lord, please grant me the patience to deal with my blessings!" A quick run down of our 2014. January we celebrated Brielle's 4th Birthday! Exciting and yet she's 4 going on 13 I think! We love her charm and sweetness as well as her "in charge" personality. Judson doesn't always though. February brought Cooper's 1st Birthday. He's a personality we're constantly unwrapping! At some point he'll really start talking and then watch out! March and April we were ready for as the weather changed and we were outside instantly. Judson was so excited to "work" in the dirt or sand or rock or whatever he could find with his trucks and tractors. May was both Tivoli and Tulip Fest. We enjoy taking in both of those weekends and the kids get a kick out of the parades and activities. Wooden shoes and tractors as well as us riding in the Tivoli parade in our Hoegh float! Great times! June-Judson turned 3. He's a soft hearted joy who then can get away with quite a bit. Later that month we shingled the house with the help of many friends and family! Thank you all who pitched in! What a fun event! Bri and Juds both were in swim lessons and loved it! July we had a Hoegh vacation on the farm. Who needs to travel to exotic destinations when you can feed cattle on vacation?! We celebrated the 4th in Sully with friends Nick and Amy Harthoorn and their beautiful family. Thanks for having us Harthoorns! We found out we were pregnant. Serious?! August we put on new siding. September-Brielle started preschool! She loves it and it gives Aubyn a good change of schedule with the kids. October we took a trip to Minneapolis and Byron to visit family. Good times! November and December the weather changed and here we are preparing to celebrate Jesus' birth! Wow what a time to recap on all we've been given including the promise, the declaration that the work has been done. We are freed from sin because of what Christ did for us! We pray that each one of you will feel and give the warmth of Christ's love this Christmas season and always remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. God bless! The Hoeghs

Summer Vacation on the farm!

What a great time! We don't need to travel to have a great time. We just need family and we've got enough!

Cooper's Dedication, Brielle's Birthday

Year in review

Wow! What a year!!! Recap: January-Brielle's 3rd birthday! She's growing up so fast and is a wonderful blessing to us! February-Welcome Cooper James Hoegh...Another miracle blessing! March-Bri and I make the trip to Branson to watch Jacey at nationals. Lynnae comes to visit us all in Orange City. Fun times! April/May-who doesn't love April and May every year?! Plus we have now finished up all kitchen remodeling and home improvements. We're happy with how everything turned out. June-Judson turns 2! No doubt a peach and a blessing to all of us! July-Aubyn gets a much needed girls' weekend in Des Moines with her college friends. What a neat group of lifelong friends she has! Jerod got to go with Jerome to Missouri for the show-me-state games. We took home 2nd. The next week Jerome, Jacey and I took home 1st place in the Aspen League in Des Moines while the Hoegh family vacationed in Pella. Good times, biking, boating, and spending time relaxing with family. August-8th wedding anniversary! It feels like just yesterday we celebrated that special day. Every year we wonder if how it just keeps getting better and better! September-Henry and Karissa's wedding. It was great to celebrate that special day with them. Welcome to the family Karissa! October-Brielle is in gymnastics. She really enjoyed bossing around...I mean playing with new friends. She also is now in Sunday School and Kids Club every Sunday and attends Mopettes every tuesday while Aubyn is at MOPS. November-Bri and I made the trip to Missouri with Jerome/Ashley and Mom and Dad to watch Jacey play his football playoff game. Andrew, Janna, Kavan and Riley made the trip from Phoenix as well. The team came up short but we're proud of Jacey and the team. December-it's cold outside but warm inside with these three crazy kids running all over the place. We hope each and every one of you had a special 2013 just as we did and we pray that each of you feels and shares Christ's love this Christmas season. Love Jerod, Aubyn, Brielle, Judson and Cooper.

Wow! I've really let myself go!

Seriously, I have blogged something like twice a year lately. That's not nearly enough. The only reason I can give for not blogging more is that we've been busy having fun with no time to stop and write about it. We're enjoying the moment...every moment that God has given us. So a quick recap since my last post. September Henry got married to Karissa. Personally, I don't see it. I think they both could have done better:). Just kidding. It was a great day and we're so happy for them. Other notable news: Brielle is good at gymnastics. She had class throughout the fall once a week. She really had a lot of fun with it. We spent a lot of time traveling to Jacey's football games. Brielle and I made the trip to Missouri to watch an unfortunate ending to a great season for the Red Raiders. Jacey did great! We'll miss watching him play. Cooper is doing a one legged crawl all over the place. He's close to walking but must be afraid of heights. Judson is talking all the time. We're still unsure of what language it is, but he sure has a lot to say. Bri is still giving us moments that make us stop in our tracks. "Dad, will you be my prince?". God is good, very good!

Over a year?!?!?!

It's been over a year since I've last blogged...but I won't focus on the negatives. I'll focus on the positives. I'll try to sum up the past year real quick. It was FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, Jacey was here at NW for school and so we got to see him play football and basketball and more enjoyable just see him at the house interacting with the kids. We've done a lot of work to the house. The most exciting is putting a fence around the back yard and placing a playset back there for the kids. They love showing it off. Speaking of kids, we've enjoyed watching Brielle and Judson get bigger and play together...well Bri mostly bosses him around but they love each other. Early morning on February 5th we welcomed into our lives Cooper James Hoegh. We were able make it to Sioux Falls before he showed himself. Aubyn was amazing during labor and continues to be wonderful with the kids now. Managing a 3 year old, 2 year old and a newborn that doesn't sleep is no easy task. Cooper is such a blessing from God to us. What an amazing miracle he is. We really enjoy watching the three kids interact now as Cooper is sitting up watching the other two. We think one of these days he'll just take off and run with them. Judson is talking more and more. He's a little hard to understand so if we don't get what he's saying he gets frustrated. That's when Bri steps in and says "Judsy says I can have his toy". She's quite the older sister. Both Bri and Juds love to go to the farm and see the tractors and cows. Feeding the cattle with prapa is a must. Cooper just now has slept through the night 6 nights in a row! Even with less than adequate sleep for the last 6 months, we are filled with joy thinking about our lives with our kids.

Update

It's been a long time again...I'm getting worse at blogging. Nevertheless, here is an update, we've been all over in the past few months. Henry's graduation, the farm, I was in MN for tough mudder, sioux falls, Denison. Here are a bunch of random pictures. Oh and we moved across town. It's an adjustment but we're making it. Brielle is talking more and more. She calls herself Delle even though she can say Brielle pretty good. She's nearly house trained which is exciting. Judson is walking short distances and could walk more but crawling is faster.

Branson and Beyond

Well it once again has been a while since the last post. In that time we've done quite a bit. Unfortunately I can't remember much of it. I do remember driving several hours(lost track) down to Branson with Aubyn, Brielle and Judson. They were terrific travelers with the exception of Aubyn...j/k. We did make it and had a great time. My mom and dad and (newly engaged)Jerome and Ashley met us there. We all stayed in a condo near the lake and were able to watch Jacey and the NW guys play the national tournament. Unfortunately the Raider's season ended but we're still proud of them, especially Jacey. We enjoyed the rest of our stay including the highlight of the weekend, the Dixie Stampede. Everyone had a great time. Dolly Parton is a great hostess. We've got some pictures of the trip and others of times playing around the house.

Celebrations!

We are blessed to have had the opportunity to celebrate two occasions in one weekend. Judson's dedication was an incredibly meaningful time both at the church and after church with all the well wishes and congratulations from friends and family. We spent time at our place after church with family and also celebrated Brielle's 2nd birthday.

We enjoyed spending time with family as we always do. Here are some pictures of the occasion. Brielle is saying more and more phrases and Judson(7 1/2 mo.) is moving more and more on the floor. It won't be long before he is crawling. Now that Brielle is two she's decided to go #1 and #2 on the potty a few days ago! How exciting :) We're hoping potty training goes smoothly!

A Very long time

So it's been an extremely long time since I've written and alot has happened since then. Unfortunately I can't think of a single thing right now so I'll simply post the pictures and let you figure it out. Some of the pictures are from harvest. Brielle now enjoys sitting in the combine and tractor as long as she can hold my hand. Judson is moving so much now that he might take off and crawl or walk pretty soon. Aubyn is doing a great job taking care of both of them and I am loving taking it all in. I don't like going so long in between blogs but it does give us a chance to look back at the past few months and take in just how blessed we've been. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends and of course our little family here.

It's been a long time

Here are a bunch of photos from the past month or more. Daira's wedding was a good time, and Brielle refused to leave the dance floor. Even if that meant that she lay down and dance as she was so tired. Some other pics are from the trip to and from Des Moines as well as some from around the house. Judson is 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. He's talking more and smiling and laughing alot. Brielle is getting cuter and cuter but with that she's getting more difficult. The joys of the terrible two's seem to be coming. She was a cute lil' monkey for Halloween.

More Photos by Leah

Here are a bunch of pics from a while back that Leah took. They are some great pictures. It really goes to show just how good of a photographer Leah is. Although most will argue its just a good looking family. I can't argue with either.

Where have we been? All over. Sioux Falls to visit Owen's, that's always a good time. Over the 4th of July we went to Sully to visit Nick and Amy Harthoorn and their 3 girls Kate, Brooke and Aubrey. While in Sully we spent some time at Susan's new house with Robby's and Reggie's. From Sully we went to Lake Panorama for a week of vacation with the Hoegh family. We spent alot of time boating, tubing, wakeboarding, biking, playing bags, and a bunch more. So that pretty much sums up our summer so far. Judson is getting bigger. Brielle is doing all sorts of goofy stuff. Shes walking backwards, walking on her tip toes, talking jibberish all the time and all in all just making us laugh.

Week 1

Here are some pics from our first visitors and from our first weekend getaway as a family of 4 at Lake Shatek with Owen's, Kyle's, and Brent's.

Retro Diary

Here is my retro diary of the last couple of weeks especially last monday leading up to the birth of Judson.
May 27: We're on hightened alert, 2 weeks 'til due date(when Bri was born). I'm told to always keep my cell phone on me just in case.
June 2: Dr. Appointment in Sioux Falls. It could be any day now. We're excitedly waiting.
June 9: Dr appt in Sioux Falls. We stay at Owen and Leah's just in case. Aubyn is trying everything including walking with one foot on the curb down the street. 11:50 pm: Contractions have been getting stronger all day. This has to be it, we go in. They say go home(dilated to 1 1/2 is all!)
June 10: 1 day overdue and contractions have nearly stopped. Is this kid ever gonna show?!
June 13: Dr appt S.F. Aubyn goes by herself, I work.
5:24: Auyn calls, tells me not to waste any time.
6:15: I walk in Owen and Leah's and tell newly married (cousin)Lisa that she looks different. Leah orders me to "tend to your wife". I tell Aubyn "just one more push"(not a good time to be funny)
7:15: check in to the hospital, Aubyn states that "if these contractions get any worse, I might need an epidural".
8:00 til 10:00: Gets checked and is a 4. Hot bath, breathing, squeezing of my hand, she hasn't been able to talk during a contraction since 5:00.
10:00: Worse contractions, lots of pushes. I tell her she's doing great(but what do I know). Midwife Mary says she's doing great, she could be lying but Aubyn believes her.
10:30: Mary says just one or two more pushes...
10:50: Mary says just one or two more pushes...
10:53: Out comes our little one and somehow I figure out its a boy!
Shortly thereafter Aubyn and Judson have some time together, then I do. What a great day.
Last thing that I better note is that an hour later they helped Aubyn to the restroom. She passed out on the toilet. Not funny then but can be seen as funny now.

Miracle

There is no doubt in my mind that each child out there is a miracle. On June 13, 2011 we were given another miracle in the form of a 7lb 15oz son named Judson Brian Hoegh. In fact the whole process from conception to birth and beyond is a series of multiple miracles in a row. Aubyn had hard contractions from about 5:00pm until 7:00 at Owen and Leah's house in SF. Then we went in to the hospital where she continued to labor hard until just after 10:00 when there was more of a push. After alot of hard work Judson revealed himself to us at 10:53 pm. Aubyn and Judson are doing great. Aubyn is understandably tired and sore. Judson had his tongue(frenulum) snipped as he was tongue tied. We've had family visit which you can see pictures of. It was good to have them all here. Owen and Leah brought Brielle and their girls over to see tonight. Brielle may not like the decreased attention that she'll likely recieve. We'll see. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. We are truly grateful for them.

May

Some random pics from May and a bit of June. We've been having alot of fun with Bri as she's developed quite the personality. She doesn't know what's coming with the new baby but she'll soon find out.